Quiet Things That No One Ever Know
by RocknRose22
Summary: Erm, AU? Naomi wants Emily, but Emily likes boys. Naomi/Emily. Title taken from the Brand New song.
1. This Modern Love

**Title: **Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows (Part One)**  
Pairing: **Naomi/Emily**  
Rating:** T, I guess**  
Words: **2,212 and more to come**  
Summary: **Erm, AU? Naomi wants Emily, but Emily likes men boys.

**A/N: **This is my first proper fic, I still don't know all the little ways of describing fics so bare with me but I'm guessing this is AU. Feel free to criticise or give me any tips :)

It's odd. The way your relationship came out of nowhere. You'd been at school together for five years; barely uttered two words to each other over all that time. She was part of the 'popular gang', her and her sister; they were like the ring leaders.

Untouchable.

It didn't bother you though. You had your own friendship group, content enough with your life.

As soon as college started something changed. You found that you had half your classes with her. You started talking (you can't remember how or why) and friendship blossomed. She was completely different to how you'd perceived her. From afar last year she'd seemed like a complete bitch; but now you realise she's caring, vulnerable and incredibly fun to be around. Part of you thinks she's only made the effort to talk to you because half of her old friends were too brainless to get into college (even on a hair and beauty course, which is a shame really, because they really needed to learn to apply foundation without looking like they'd been tangoed).

Pretty soon you become inseparable, your other friends find it strange, like you're betraying them, but you can't seem to help it, you just can't get enough of her. You'd spend time together doing completely pointless stuff, send each other close to fifty texts a day and take ridiculous photos together on your phones, usually when drunk or stoned, or both. When you look over the photos the morning after you notice how close you are to her and you feel your heart flutter (just for a moment, you think nothing of it, push it to the back of your mind).

You find yourself leaving your old friends behind, and you feel bad, but you still can't help it. You make friends with her friends and find yourself at random parties, watching Cook make a complete tit of himself, while Panda's practically bouncing off the walls after discovering the joy of class A drugs. You find yourself getting closer to Katie and Effy too, and pretty soon the four of you are doing everything together. You don't feel as close to them as you do to Emily though.

Suddenly, everything changes, and you know it's because of **him**. Apparently Emily's found true love, with some brainless footy player Katie's flung in her direction. You can tell he's only in it for one thing and the thought of **him** touching her sickens you (but you assure yourself that you're only looking out for your best friend, because you can see that he's only using her, that he doesn't love her, even if she can't). You know that she'll regret giving him her virginity; Effy knows it too. She can see that things aren't right between you and Emily, because Effy's the type to observe. She can see that it's crushing you (even though you won't even admit that to yourself).

"She'll come back to you, y'know. Eventually." She tells you one day when a bunch of you are sitting in the park, getting pissed. You went to sit by yourself on the swing, bottle of vodka in hand, planning to get so monumentally fucked up that you can forget the hurt you're feeling for a moment (even if that moment's only fleeting). You laugh bitterly at Effy's words, taking another swig from the vodka and barely flinching as it burns you throat. You see Emily and **him**, practically eating each others faces as they lay on the grass a few metres away. It wouldn't be so bad if you got to see her without **him **always being there, his hands permanently glued to her arse. But it's like you don't exist anymore, **he's **replaced you. Effy realises you're not really in the mood to talk and goes to leave, but before she does she puts her hand on your shoulder reassuringly.

"If you ever want someone to listen, I'm here." You give her a grateful half-smile and she's happy with that. She leaves you alone to think (and you're even more grateful because that's all you really want to do right now)

A few days later you find yourself sitting with Effy in her car, smoking together, in comfortable silence; and that's when you decide to bare your soul.

"I miss her so fucking much," you say, and appreciate how Effy just nods, understands exactly who you're talking about, and silently wills you to go on while taking another drag of her cigarette. "I know I see her everyday but it's like it's not _her _anymore. It's like she's changed, and she has, and it's all to please **him**. And I don't understand how she can't see how much of a complete fucking tosser he is. I know she will eventually, at least I hope she will, and I know she'll come crawling back to me because she knows I'll never leave her, because she always gets her own way with me; even when she treats me like shit. And I know I shouldn't let her but I do, and I'll be there when she needs me, even though I know there's a good chance she'll start treating me like shit again. But I can't help it because I love her. So. Fucking. Much."

You realise you've said too much, that that was something you've been refusing to admit even to yourself, and now you've gone and blurted it out to Effy. You notice the tears that are streaking down your face and the overwhelming feeling of relief that you finally have someone to talk to about the thoughts and feelings that have been whizzing round your head for weeks, months even. You feel Effy pull you into a hug, it's so uncharacteristic of her, and it's awkward because you're in a car so there's this massive space between your seats.

"I know," Effy says, "And it's okay."

A few more weeks pass and you appreciate how Effy's managed to keep her knowing looks to a minimum when Emily's around.

One day Emily comes up to you when you're at your locker, stands there awkwardly for a minute while you busy yourself with your books (because you're trying desperately to detach yourself from her, that way it might stop hurting so much, but every time you look at her you feel yourself falling for her all over again).

"I miss you Nai," she blurts out, and you try to act nonchalant, slipping a couple of books into your bag. You fight the urge to reply with_ 'well whose fault is that?' _and instead tell her "I miss you too," because it's the truth.

"So we should do something, yeah? Have a movie night or something."

"Yeah," you agree, but notice from that one sentence how much she's changed. It's almost like she's turning into Katie, what with the footballer boyfriend, the way she dresses and now even the way she talks. Still, you can't stop the huge grin that creeps onto your face at the thought of finally having some time alone with your best mate, without **him **there.

"Friday night?" she suggests.

"Sounds like a plan." You smile. Genuinely.

Friday night comes and Emily arrives at your baring gifts of popcorn and peach schnapps (your favourite). She microwaves the popcorn while you find some lemonade to mix with the schnapps and then you both run up to your room. She lies on the bed while you grab your DVD collection. You sit on the bed with her to show her the movies you've got. She instantly grabs _Pretty Woman _and hands it to you expectantly.

"What am I your slave? You know where the DVD player is," you laugh and nod your head over to the TV set.

"But you're the host," she grins. "Pleeeease," she begs while giving you her puppy-dog eyes. You roll your eyes at her and snatch the DVD from her hands. You're not surprised, she always gets her way.

By the time you've set the TV up and turn around to sit back on the bed Emily's already crawled under the covers and stolen all the pillows. She smiles her best innocent smile at you and pats the bed to tell you to sit next to her. You whack her on the leg to tell her to budge over and as she's doing so you steal the pillows out from under her head. She looks at you in mock anger and you just give her an innocent smile back. She laughs at you and grabs your arm, wrapping it round her shoulders so that she can use you as a pillow. You watch her as you feel your heartbeat quicken considerably, she places the popcorn in between you both and starts to watch the film. You try desperately to concentrate on the film too, but you just can't. Having her this close to you is too distracting. You can feel your heartbeat in your ears, you're sure she's bound to hear how fast it's beating sooner or later. You keep nervously glancing down at her, waiting for her to notice the effect she's clearly having on you but she doesn't. She just stares at the screen, absentmindedly shovelling popcorn into her mouth, a small smile playing on her lips. You finish your drink quickly and start to relax a little and have some popcorn, still trying to concentrate on the movie but being very conscious of every tiny movement you make, and every movement she makes for that matter.

The end credits start to roll just as you're polishing off your fourth drink, which you've probably been making stronger each time. Emily stretches out and yawns before grabbing the pile of DVDs that are still lying at the bottom of the bed and places them in her lap, looking through them quickly until she finds the one she's looking for. She holds up _The Notebook_ and throws it onto your stomach for you to go put in the DVD player again. You sigh and get up, stumbling a bit as the alcohol hits you.

"Jesus Ems, could you have picked a soppier film?" You ask, placing it in the player and making your way back over to the bed.

"If you think it's so soppy then why do you own it?" she asks then smiles triumphantly as you fail to come up with an answer. She grabs the bottle of schnapps from your side of the bed to pour herself another drink but stops when she feels how light it is. "Christ Nai, slow down, it's not water y'know," she says seriously as you take another large gulp from your glass. You smile slightly as you recognize the motherly side of the Emily you used to know.

"Sorry," you mutter, "popcorn makes me thirsty."

She smiles at you, letting it go and continues to pour her drink. You hit play when she's done and lift your arm up voluntarily as she resumes her place next to you. You think she's snuggling closer, but put it down to wishful thinking.

By the time the second film finishes you're drinking the schnapps straight from the bottle, and even though you see Emily giving you a reproachful look she doesn't say anything so you carry on.

"I think it's time for me to go home," Emily says, yawning.

"If you think I'm letting you walk home alone at this time you've got another thing coming," you try to say it seriously but you're slurring and it just sounds ridiculous.

"Well you're not walking me, you'd have to walk back here after and you'd probably fall into a bush or something on the way," Emily laughed.

"So sleep here you moron, just don't hog the covers yeah?"

"I can't make any promises," she laughs and pretty soon you've changed into an oversized t-shirt and given her one too. You jump into bed but misjudge it and smack your head on the headboard.

"Smooth," she says through her hysterical laughter.

"Shut up," you grumble and get under the covers quickly. She's fast asleep in no time but you're far too alert for someone who's drunk almost an entire bottle of schnapps. You keep your eyes carefully trained to the ceiling while all your other senses seem to have heightened dramatically. You hear her soft breathing and occasionally she mumbles something incoherent which, strangely, makes you want to laugh. You can smell her shampoo, something fruity, or maybe that's just the smell of schnapps, you ponder it for far longer than is necessary. You can feel every movement she makes and every time she turns in her sleep you tense up slightly and hope she's moving closer to you, because you yearn to just hold her but you know you can't. You sigh loudly and glance over at the alarm clock. The luminous red numbers are too bright for your eyes to handle after staring into darkness for so long and you have to squint to make out the time properly. It's 3AM and you groan slightly at the lack of sleep you've gotten before turning onto your side facing away from Emily and eventually drift off to sleep.


	2. In Too Far

**Title: **Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows (Part One)**  
Pairing: **Naomi/Emily**  
Rating:** T, I guess**  
Words: **2,991 and more to come**  
Summary: **Erm, AU? Naomi wants Emily, but Emily likes boys.

**A/N: **_Thanks for all the reviews, they've been really helpful and put a nice big smile on my face __ Sorry it's taken me so long to update, I've had possibly he most hectic week ever. This part's only short, but it's pretty much the holidays now so they'll be much more, much more frequently, soon hopefully. Thanks again, and don't forget to review this chapter too _

//

A week later and it's like your little re-bonding night never even happened. She carried on just as she had before, spending all her time with **him **and cancelling her plans with you because "Dean's got a match and he needs me there, I'm like his lucky mascot." and that spark of hope you had after she'd admitted she missed you was quickly diminished.

You're lying in bed on Saturday morning when your phone rings, and it makes you jump because you were just drifting back off to sleep, barely even conscious. You scramble for it on your bedside table and answer it without checking who it is.

"Hey, what you up to?" You're still half asleep and can't make out who the voice belongs to, so you pull the phone away from your ear and squint at the screen to make out the name.

"Katie?" You grumble down the phone.

"Of course it's me you cow, are you still in bed? It's 11.30 for Christ's sake," Her voice is too shrill to listen to after just waking up, so you move the phone away from your ear a bit but you can still hear shouting in the background while Katie waits for your reply.

"It's Saturday," you reply groggily.

"Whatever. Get up and meet me in town for a coffee or something, I need to get out of this bloody house," It's not really a request, but Katie always orders people about so you're used to it by now.

"Why what's going on?" You ask, hearing the shouting once again.

"I'll tell you later, meet me on the green in half an hour." You grunt in acknowledge and that's all she needs before she hangs up. You chuck your phone back onto the bedside table and reluctantly heaving yourself out of bed. You quickly sort yourself out before shouting a hurried goodbye to your Mum and making your way to the bus stop.

When you get to the green Katie's already there, sitting on a bench and smoking with an impatient look on her face. You walk up to her and steal one of her fags out of her bag as you sit down.

"Hello to you too yeah?" She says in mock annoyance. You nod in acknowledge while sparking up and inhaling deeply.

"So what's going on?" you ask while slowly exhaling the smoke.

"It's a fucking nightmare yeah? Mum and Dad came home early while Ems had Deano round and well…they were being a bit loud if you know what I mean," You cringe. "Dad went ballistic and is like forbidding Ems to see him anymore."

"So hold on, they're actually sleeping together now?" You ask, making sure you haven't got the wrong end of the stick, and incredibly pissed off that Emily didn't tell you that herself, seeing as you were supposed to be best friends.

"Well duh, she needed to keep him interested didn't she," Katie says as if it's the most natural thing in the world.

"What the fuck Katie? You really think that's alright? He shouldn't have needed to be _kept _interested, if he really cared about her he wouldn't lose interest," You know you shouldn't be taking this out on Katie, because you know it's Emily who you're really mad at for not talking to you about it.

"Whatever, yeah? It's her life I'm not gonna go meddling in it. Anyway, like I said, Dad's threatening Ems that he's not gonna let her see Dean anymore, but she's not having any of it; going on about how she loves him and all that. It's really fucked up, and I'm scared she's gonna run away if she's forbidden to see him," Katie says sounding genuinely concerned for once in her life. "I was hoping you could talk to her."

You accidentally let out a bitter laugh and when Katie gives you a questioning look you feel you should probably elaborate. "I doubt she'll listen to me Kay, we've…grown apart a bit lately. Too busy shagging Dean apparently."

"Please," she replies, and it throws you off because Katie never asks for help, "I've tried yeah? But she thinks I'm on Dad's side or something, she thinks the whole family's ganging up on her or something."

You let out an exasperated breath, "Fine, but I can't promise it'll do any good."

"Thanks yeah? I appreciate it. Can you do it now? Hopefully the arguing's stopped by now but if it hasn't I might need some company out on the porch because I'm not about to step back into the middle of that war zone." You let out a forced laugh before standing up and starting the walk back to Katie's.


	3. Doomed Now

**Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows (Part Three)**

**A/N: **_Cheers again for all the reviews, don't forget to keep them coming = ] Sorry it's been a while since I last updated, and sorry this one's only short again but I've been struck with swine flu (or maybe I'm being over dramatic) so I promise they'll be more in these next few days. I had a little trouble with this chapter as this story's kinda based on real life and my "inspiration" got kicked out of three different homes and had to move away for a while, but enough about that, hope you enjoy it anyway._

//_  
_

When you get to the Fitch house there isn't a car in the driveway. Katie's clearly noticed too as she visibly relaxes as you both walk up the drive and towards the door. Katie quickly fishes her keys out of her handbag and unlocks the door.

"Ems!" Katie shouts as she steps over the threshold, dropping her bag and keys at the bottom of the stairs and motioning you to follow her in. You shut the door behind you and give Katie and quizzical look.

"She'll be in our room," Katie says matter-of-factly, despite not getting a reply from Emily. "Go up and talk to her, I'll make tea or something."

You quietly make your way upstairs and knock tentatively on the door.

"Go away Katie!" Emily shouts from inside, the sound of muffled sobbing immediately following. You slowly open the door and poke your head in, finding Emily curled up on her bed with her head in her pillow.

"Hey, it's me." You announce your presence softly as you come into the room fully. Emily looks up from the pillow and starts wiping her eyes frantically.

"What are you doing here?" she asks, sounding a little harsher than she probably meant to.

"Katie told me what's going on," you explain while carefully perching on the end of the bed. She laughs incredulously.

"Right, so she does a runner when I need her here to stick up for me then sends someone else to comfort me in the aftermath. Fucking cow." Emily says bitterly.

"It's not like she doesn't care about you, y'know? She just doesn't know how to talk to you anymore. She may be a bitch but she's not a bad person." Emily lets out a strangled, disbelieving laugh before sniffing a few times and not saying anything else. You sit in awkward silence for a good five minutes before finally thinking of something else to say.

"So, do you really think Dean's worth all this trouble?" You ask quietly and immediately realise that was the completely wrong thing to say as she shoots you an incredulous look.

"What the fuck Naomi? You're turning against me too now?!" she half-shouts while pushing herself off the bed.

"Of course not, but is he really worth losing your family over?" You stand up too, barely noticing your voice rising.

"If my family really loved me they would just accept that I'm happy yeah?"

"Are you really happy?"

"Of course I'm fucking happy! I think that's what you can't stand isn't it? You're jealous!" She's clutching her cheek with a shocked expression on her face before you even realise what you've done.

"I'm sorry Ems," you mutter, lowering your hand and taking a step towards her, trying to move her hand so you can see her cheek. She pushes you away instantly.

"Get out." You stand there dumbly for a moment as you see the angry red mark on her face. "Get the fuck out!" She screams at you and you snap out of it, muttering one last "I'm sorry," before hastily making your way out of the room and down the stairs.

"What happened?" Katie asked when you got to the bottom of the stairs, "You were supposed to be calming her down yeah? What was all the shouting about?"

"She wound me up. I slapped her. I told you she wouldn't listen to me Katie, now I'm pretty sure I've lost my best mate. Cheers." You walk out the door before Katie has time to answer you back and you feel sick as you walk towards the bus stop. When you finally get to it you realise you really don't want to be alone right now and pull out your mobile instead.

"Hey," you say as soon as Effy answers. "I need to get fucked up."


End file.
